BOOK REVIEW

"Assefi conveys Jasmine's desolation effectively, and the finale in Iran is somewhat affecting. But genuine emotion is undermined again and again by hokum and histrionics—the novel is as heavy-handed as it is heavy-hearted."

After the accidental death of her five-year-old daughter, a grief-stricken oncologist embarks on a year-long round-the-world spiritual journey.
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BOOK REVIEW

"Most everything to do with Eve's emotional state rings poignantly true, but the cardboard characters surrounding her ensures that she won't escape the conventions of melodrama."

Short-story writer Segal's first novel—while an astute study of the internal chaos resulting from a shipwreck survivor's effort to recover from the loss of her entire family—also offers a few less-appealing manipulative turns.
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BOOK REVIEW

A gifted teenager agonizes over career choices while learning to separate her desires from those of others in this leisurely ballet-school fantasy from the author of Firegold (1999).
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